


Illusion

by AyVee175



Series: Pokémon Fics [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Family Feels, Kidnapping, Parent-Child Relationship, Protective Zoroark, Yuki can talk to pokemon, Yuki is adorable, Zoroark is a Good Parent, Zoroark protects the forest, and kind of a smartass, probably angst later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23339587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyVee175/pseuds/AyVee175
Summary: A human girl, Yuki, winds up lost deep in a forest and is found by a Zoroark, who takes care of her. The story follows their adventures as the girl grows up, befriends the pokémon in the area, and helps Zoroark protect their part of the woods from threats both internal and external.
Relationships: Yuki (OC) & Various Pokemon, Zoroark (Pokemon) & Yuki (OC)
Series: Pokémon Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678498
Kudos: 4





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! I don't really know where I'm gonna take this story yet, but I figured I'd get some of it up while I'm feeling inspired. I've been dabbling in the world of Pokémon again and this is an idea that I've had for a little while. Updates will probably be somewhat more regular for the time being, as I'm out of school for the rest of the year due to the corona virus. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a prologue to the events of the story that explains how Zoroark found Yuki and also introduces Leafeon, who is basically the healer of the forest (or one of multiple healers, I'm not entirely sure yet). I don't know when the next update for this story will be out, as I update whenever I have inspiration and time, but as previously stated, I'm out of school for the rest of the year so time isn't really going to be a problem.

**Five Years Ago...**

Zoroark was curled up in its den, ready to go to sleep, when it heard it. A cry of some sort. The cry wasn’t like any the Illusion Pokémon had heard before, though. It didn’t give the sound much thought, and closed its eyes as it laid its head back down.

A few moments later, Zoroark heard the sound again. It flicked its ear in annoyance, but decided it should probably go investigate. The pokémon got up with a huff and trudged outside, blinking the tiredness from its eyes. Zoroark followed the cries until it found their source.

It was a human, but way smaller than the ones that the pokémon had to protect the forest from. It- no, _she_ , the human was definitely female - couldn’t have been more than a few years old, five or six at the absolute most. She was wearing a baby blue and white dress with a snowflake on the front, white socks, baby blue Mary Janes, and a matching crystal hair clip. Her skin and hair were dark, the former was the color of rich soil while the latter was as black as Zoroark’s fur and cut short. She also had a red purse with her, though it looked too large to be hers. Zoroark approached her cautiously. The little human girl didn’t look like much of a threat, but the Illusion Pokémon didn’t have many good experiences with humans and thus was wary anyway.

As it got closer, the pokémon noticed that the girl appeared to be injured; she was sitting on the ground and holding her right leg close to her. Zoroark stepped on a twig, and the girl’s head shot up at the sound. She looked around for a moment before spotting Zoroark, but to the pokémon’s surprise, she didn’t back away or show any other signs of fear. Instead, she shifted so that her left knee was supporting her and turned herself towards the Illusion Pokémon, looking at it and tilting her head to the side like a curious Eevee.

Zoroark cautiously stepped forward, coming to stand in front of the girl. It gestured for her to follow it, then started walking back to its den. The girl stood up and followed it closely, not wanting to be left behind. They made it to the pokémon’s den and it once again curled up on the soft moss and feather bedding inside, beckoning for the girl to curl up in the den as well, which she did. She was hesitant at first, but after petting Zoroark a couple of times she quickly curled up next to it and promptly fell asleep.

The pokémon looked at the sleeping human. _I’ll get Leafeon to heal her in the morning, and we can stop for food along the way,_ Zoroark thought, as it drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Zoroark was awoken by a tug on its arm. The girl was awake and clearly needed something. _“What do you need, child?”_ The pokémon asked.

“I’m hungry,” the girl whined, pulling on Zoroark’s arm again. It got up and crawled out of its den before stretching its limbs, then turning to face the girl.

 _“Follow me,”_ it said, gesturing to make sure the girl understood. Zoroark walked at a steady pace towards its favorite berry trees, the girl walking next to it. Once they reached the trees, Zoroark climbed up the tree with the thickest trunk and picked a few berries for itself and the girl. It climbed back down, and the two ate their berries as they continued walking. Not too long after they’d finished, they came to a clearing full of wildflowers.

Zoroark led the girl to a secluded area of the clearing, sheltered by tall grass. _“Morning, Leafeon,”_ Zoroark said as they entered. Leafeon looked up from where it was sorting supplies and was shocked to see the girl enter behind Zoroark.

 _“Why did you bring a human here?”_ Leafeon demanded. The girl noticed the anger in its tone and moved closer to Zoroark.

Zoroark let out a sigh. _“I found her last night, not too far from my den. I think she got lost. Anyway, she’s injured, and I figured you might know how to help her,”_ it explained.

 _“Fine. Get her to come here so I can take a look at her,”_ Leafeon conceded. Zoroark nudged the girl towards the Grass-type and sat her down on the ground. Leafeon nosed at her right leg for a moment, stopping when the girl tensed up and whimpered. _“Well, that’s where it hurts,”_ it said, indicating the sensitive area with a paw. _“Since there’s no external damage, I’m afraid there’s not much I can do. It’s probably a bruise. I believe the best course of action is to put some ice on it or otherwise keep it cool to reduce swelling, but I doubt there will be any. She should be fine in about a week.”_

The Illusion Pokémon sighed in relief. _“That’s good.”_

 _“Do you know her name?”_ Leafeon asked.

 _“No, actually,”_ Zoroark replied. It looked at the girl. _“What’s your name?”_

When the girl didn't respond, the Illusion Pokémon pointed at itself and said, _“Zoroark.”_

The girl seemed to get the idea, as she pointed at herself and said, “Yuki.”


	2. The Mystery Unfolds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! I got this up a lot sooner than I was expecting, in all honesty. It might be a while until the next update, because I write when I have inspiration and I'm still not entirely sure where I want to take this story. I don't think it (the story) will be very long though, maybe three or four more chapters. It took me a few days to write this chapter because I really wanted it to be over 1,000 words, but I'm not particularly good at writing long chapters. Anyway, enjoy!

Yuki carefully climbed down from the Pecha tree she’d been gathering berries from. Leafeon had asked her to get some, as he was running low. There had been an altercation between some Beedrill and an Amoonguss that morning, and several pokémon in the area had gotten caught in the middle and been poisoned. Usually, Leafeon would’ve gone out to gather the berries himself, but as he was busy treating the injured pokémon, he’d sent Yuki to get them instead.

Yuki didn’t really mind running errands for Leafeon, as the Grass-type had healed many of her injuries in the past, including when she’d first arrived in the forest she’d come to call home. She considered him one of her closest friends, and she was always willing to help him out, just like she would any other resident of the forest. The trees around Yuki opened up and she arrived in the clearing where Leafeon’s den was located. She hurried across the grass to the den, careful not to jolt her bag too much and risk damaging the berries inside. Pushing past the grass entryway, Yuki carefully stepped around the pokémon in front of the den and made her way over to Leafeon. She took the Pecha Berries out of her bag and handed them to the healer, who grabbed some of them and motioned with his tail for Yuki to start feeding the berries to the pokémon who needed them.

She obliged, and picked up some of the Pecha Berries and started going from pokémon to pokémon, feeding the poisoned ones the berries. Suddenly, a Fletchling burst in, out of breath, and collapsed on the ground. Once it caught its breath and stood up, it turned to Yuki.

_ “Zoroark needs your help with something, quick! Come on!” _ It chirped, the urgency in its voice obvious.

Yuki looked at Leafeon, who nodded and said,  _ “Go. I can handle things here.” _ She quickly exited the den and followed the Fletchling across the clearing and through the forest, sprinting to keep up. The bird pokémon led her to a part of the forest she knew well, and Yuki quickly figured out where they were going.  _ The lake, _ she thought.  _ But why are we going to the lake? It’s usually the most peaceful spot in the forest. Even when there  _ is _ trouble there, Zoroark can usually handle it on his own. _ Yuki sped up, more concerned than ever about what kind of trouble the Illusion Fox Pokémon had encountered.

The girl burst out of the forest and into the clearing by the lake. She was greeted by the sight of Zoroark, very clearly injured and exhausted, fighting two other pokémon: a Liepard and a Houndoom. There were no people around who could’ve been their trainers, but they weren’t wild, as both were wearing collars of some kind. A Quagsire in the lake was protecting a terrified group of Wooper and Lotad, there were some injured Flabébé and Scatterbug huddled behind a Breloom, and the other pokémon that usually frequented the lake at this time of day were nowhere to be seen. They were probably hiding.

Yuki frantically searched through her bag, before finding what she was looking for: a pokéball. It had been in the bag when Zoroark had found her, but Yuki had only ever had to use the pokémon in it a couple of times. Without a moment’s hesitation, she tossed the pokéball into the air, releasing the pokémon.  _ “Mienfoo, use Drain Punch!” _

There was a flash of light, and Mienfoo was out of the pokéball. She used Drain Punch on the Liepard, while Zoroark wrestled the Houndoom into the lake.  _ “Force Palm!” _ Mienfoo obeyed, immediately following up the Drain Punch with a Force Palm and knocking the Liepard into a tree. It fell to the ground, got up, and hissed,  _ “You haven’t seen the last of us!” _ as it turned and ran off into the trees. Zoroark landed a Night Slash on the Houndoom, and a Quagsire in the lake struck a glancing blow with a Water Gun, causing the Houndoom to run away in the same direction as the Liepard.

Yuki rushed over to Zoroark.  _ “Are you alright?” _ She asked as the Illusion Fox Pokémon staggered out of the lake.

_ “I’ll be fine,” _ Zoroark replied.  _ “Follow them. My illusions barely affected them and I need to know why.“ _ When Yuki hesitated he added,  _ “I’ll go see Leafeon and get my injuries taken care of. Don’t worry.” _

_ “Alright,” _ Yuki agreed.  _ “Come on, Mienfoo.” _ The Martial Arts Pokémon followed close behind Yuki as she sprinted in the direction the Liepard and Houndoom had retreated in. She and Mienfoo quietly sprinted through the forest until they heard voices. They stopped at the edge of a clearing and hid behind some bushes. There were two people in the clearing who were looking at some kind of machine Yuki’s never seen before. The machine was showing pictures of the battle Yuki, Mienfoo, and Zoroark had just fought.

“Interesting,” one of the people said. “So this is where that stupid pokémon ran off to.”

They looked at the device for a little longer, then the other guy exclaimed, “a human?!”

“What?”

“There’s a human here, a little girl! And she has a pokémon!”

The first guy looked over at the machine. “Well, shoot. That complicates things. We’d better report this.” He started doing something to the machine, and first a logo, then a woman appeared on the screen.

“What is it this time?” The woman sounded very bored.

“We, uh, found something.”

“Okay?”

“So, first things first, we found the runaway pokémon. But...”

“But?”

“There’s a human here. A young girl, maybe ten years old, with a Mienfoo.”

Yuki stepped forward to get a better view, when suddenly.

_ Crack! _

She stepped on a twig, and the guys in the clearing whipped around to look at her. One of them threw a pokéball and yelled, “Venomoth, use String Shot!”

Yuki motioned for Mienfoo to run and tell Zoroark before being caught in the String Shot. Mienfoo runs, and the people must not have noticed her, because they grab Yuki and drag her into the clearing but don’t chase down Mienfoo.

“Is this the girl?” The woman asks.

“Yes, Amia,” the guy holding Yuki replies.

“I told you not to call me by my name!”

“Sorry, boss.”

“Whatever. Knock her out and take her back to base. I want to talk to her in person.” Yuki struggled to get out of the String Shot, then she was hit on the back of the head and everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens!! Yuki has been kidnapped!! And who is the runaway pokémon? Find out when I decide to write and post Chapter 2!
> 
> Real quick I'm gonna explain the use of pronouns regarding pokémon. Yuki will refer to them using he/him and she/her pronouns (when she knows their gender) because even though canonically, people refer to pokémon using it/they pronouns, Yuki grew up with pokémon and thus was never taught to use it/they pronouns when referring to pokémon. Other humans will use it/they pronouns when referring to pokémon, because, as previously stated, it's the norm. It/they pronouns are used in the prologue because it's not really from anyone's P.O.V, so I figured it didn't really matter as much. I apologize if my use of pronouns regarding pokémon offends anyone, but I'm doing what i think fits the story and the storyteller the best.

**Author's Note:**

> Something I feel I should mention: Italicized text in quotation marks means that the character is speaking Pokémon. Regular text in quotation marks means that the character is speaking English. Italicized text means the character is thinking.  
> Yuki is about 5 years old during the prologue.  
> Pokémon can understand English, but humans can't exactly understand whatever language pokémon speak, which, for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to call Pokémon.


End file.
